The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for automatically vending articles and, in particular, to a machine for vending newspapers.
Automatic vending machines for newspapers and periodicals, or foodstuffs and beverages, or paring meters are frequently equipped with automatic coin collecting devices. These automatic coin collecting devices are located in a housing and collect, for instance, coins which are checked before the article to be vended is released to a customer.
Unfortunately, it has been the experience with such machines that some individuals entrusted with the collection of the coins from the machines are unreliable and it is difficult to determine whether a coin shortage is due to a defective coin checker or an erroneous accounting by the collecting person. For this reason it had been proposed to direct the vending machine coin checking channel into a storage bin, which bin closes automatically when it is removed from the automatic vending machine. For example, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,221. The storage bin is accessible from the outside of the machine by way of a separate cover which can be closed by a key. This solution is expensive. Besides, separate personnel must be employed to collect the coins and to refill of the vending machine.
There is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,484 an automatic vending machine for newspapers, in which the newspapers are stacked in a locker shaped stand and offered for sale through a lockable door on the front side the stand. Arranged on the stand is a vending device having a coin checker connected to an audit structure which collects transaction audit data and controls a closure device for the locking and release of the door of the stand. Data collected by the audit structure of this automatic vending machine, such as refilling times, sales figures, times of sales and the amount of money can be read and transmitted by a portable data transmission unit with keyboard and digital display to a central data processing system.
A drawback of the above described newspaper vending machine is that after the release of the door lock, the stack of newspapers is accessible and thereby the possibility of the improper removal of more than one newspaper exists. A further drawback is that either each operator has to carry an unwieldy data transmission unit when refilling the machine, or additional personnel must be used for the collection of the sales data.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,513 shows an automatic vending machine for flat materials such as newspapers. The stack of newspapers is inclined and that position is maintained by a vertical back wall and a telescopically acting rod device. For the delivery of a newspaper, a motor drives gearing which is connected with the rod device, whereby the downward moving rod device releases the uppermost newspaper in the stack, which newspaper under the influence of gravity slides from the stack and drops into a delivery slot. The movement of the motor is controlled by control and memory units which are connected with a magnetic card reader. Data, such as machine codes, subscriber codes, number of deliveries per subscriber and day, as well as specific delivery dates, are transferred to the control and memory units with the aid of a magnetic card which can be read by the card reader.
A drawback of this device is that the delivery of the newspaper is performed solely by gravity. Depending on the composition of the paper and the humidity of the air, the newspaper to be delivered may not slide from the stack which leads to service interruptions and annoyed buyers. A further drawback is that the unidirectional data transfer exchange prevents a versatile application of such an automatic vending machine.